National Football League

Saints face 2nd straight winless team

Published Oct. 26, 2011 11:06 p.m. ET

foxsports

The task for Saints coach Sean Payton this week might be tougher than it was last week.

In a 55-point win over the Colts, Payton gave up his role as the Saints' play-caller to offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr., after spending the start of last week in the hospital following knee surgery.

Now, Payton must find a way to keep his team's attention as it prepares for another winless team, the St. Louis Rams (0-6).

That hasn't been a problem in the past.

The Saints are 6-3 under Payton against winless teams following the first week of the season. Two of those losses, however, were in the second week of the season.

The only one of those losses that came in the middle of the schedule was against the 0-8 Rams in 2007 when the Saints were on a four-game winning streak.

Four years later, Payton has led the Saints to a Super Bowl victory and back-to-back playoff appearances. The Saints (5-2) currently lead the NFC South.

His message this week has been one of consistency.

''If you really aspire to be a really, really good team, then you can't be back and forth,'' Payton said. ''You have to have some consistency in your play. There's going to be weeks where you don't play your best football and yet you still find a way to win.''

Heading into the Saints' 62-7 win over Indianapolis, Payton pulled the team aside and lectured the players about how, despite a 4-2 start, they hadn't played their best football. New Orleans responded with a record-setting performance, tying the NFL mark for most points in a game since the 1970 merger, setting a team mark for margin of victory, and a myriad of other franchise scoring records.

Producing another such performance is enough to keep their focus, Drew Brees said.

''The fact we know the type of team we can be and how well we can play (keeps focus),'' Brees said. ''We don't want to be a week-to-week team. We want to be a team that is consistent. We know what we expect from ourselves. We've set a standard for how we're going to play every time out.''

St. Louis could be without starting quarterback Sam Bradford again this week as he continues to battle back from a high left ankle sprain. And the Rams are 31st in the NFL, allowing 28.5 points per game, and 32nd in scoring, putting up just 9.3 points per game.

Running back Pierre Thomas said the Saints won't look at any of those stats nor will they pay attention to the Rams' record.

''You don't want to go out there thinking about the other team and what their record is or what they've done in their last game,'' Thomas said.

For New Orleans, it gets back to Payton's message. To get back to the Super Bowl, to be considered a great team, it has to handle games like this upcoming Sunday just like it did against Indianapolis.

''The good teams, and not just the good teams but the great teams, they're able to do that, and we want to be one of those teams,'' Brees said.

Notes: The Saints moved running back Chris Ivory from the reserve/physically unable to perform list to the active/physically unable to perform list. New Orleans now has 21 days to decide whether to bump him to the active 53-man roster or part ways. Ivory led the team in rushing in 2010 with 716 yards. . Running back Mark Ingram (right heel), linebackers Jonathan Vilma (left knee) and Jonathan Casillas (left knee) and defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis (right ankle) didn't practice. Right tackle Zach Strief (right knee) practiced on a limited basis for the first time since injuring his knee on Sept. 25 against Houston. . The Saints cut quarterback Sean Canfield and signed tight end Tory Humphrey.